Book: The Child of Ukraine
Author: Tetyana Denford
Pub Day: July 20th 2022
About the Book:
Ukraine, 1940. She cups her daughter’s face with her trembling hands, imprinting it on her mind. ‘I love you. Be brave,’ she whispers through her tears, her heart breaking into a thousand pieces. Sending her child away is the only way to keep her safe. But will she ever see her again?
When war rips their country apart, Julia is sent away by her tearful parents in the dead of night, clutching her mother’s necklace and longing for one last embrace. But soon she is captured by Nazi soldiers and forced into a German labour camp, where behind a tall fence topped with cruel barbed wire, she has never felt more alone.
Just as she begins to give up on all hope, Julia meets Henry, a young man from her village who shares her heart full of dreams. And when she feels a fluttering in her belly that grows and grows, she longs to escape the camp and begin a new life with their child.
But then Julia is forced to make a terrible choice. A choice no mother should have to make.New York, 2011. With her heart shattered and her life changed forever by the shadows of war, as the years go by Julia thinks she will never be whole again. For decades she has been carrying a terrible secret with her, her every moment tainted by tragedy and loss since those dark days of the war.
But when she receives a phone call in the middle of the night, far away from the home and family she lost in the war, will Julia finally be reunited with the missing piece of her heart? Or is it too late for her wounds to heal?
Based on the incredible true story of the author’s grandparents, The Child of Ukraine is a breathtakingly powerful tale of love, loss and family secrets, perfect for fans of The Four Winds, The Last Green Valley, and The Nightingale.
This novel was previously published under the name Motherland.
BLOG TOUR REVIEW
Review for 'The Child Of Ukraine' by Tatyana Denford.
Read and reviewed via NetGalley for Tatyana Denford, Bookouture publishers and Bookouture anonymous
Publication date 20th July 2022.
This is the first book I have read by this author.
I was originally drawn to this book by its eye catching cover and intriguing sounding synopsis and title. The synopsis stated that 'Based on the incredible true story of the author’s grandparents, The Child of Ukraine is a breathtakingly powerful tale of love, loss and family secrets, perfect for fans of The Four Winds, The Last Green Valley, and The Nightingale.' I am a huge fan of 'The Nightingale' so am looking forward to seeing if this lives up to this statement. I must admit I was also biased due to the publisher being Bookouture. I have yet to read a book published by Bookouture that I haven't enjoyed. Hopefully this won't be the first... Watch this space! (Written before I started reading the book).
This novel consists of a prologue, 43 chapters and an epilogue. The chapters are short to medium in length so possible to read 'just one more chapter' before bed...OK, I know yeah right, but still just in case!
This book is based in Ukraine 🇺🇦, Germany 🇩🇪, Australia 🇦🇺 and New York, USA 🇺🇸.
This book is written in third person perspective and the main protagonist is Julia. The benefits of third person perspective are that it let's you see the bigger picture of what's going on and you get to know more characters more, what they are thinking and what they are doing. It feels like you get to see the whole picture and not miss out in anything.
'The Child Of Ukraine' discusses some topics that may upset some readers or may not be suitable for others. I like to point this out ahead of time in my reviews so you can judge if this book is for you or not. In this book Tatyana discusses/includes war and violence.
Well, what can I say but wow!!! This story is definitely not going to leave my head anytime soon. Firstly I must congratulate Tatyana for an absolutely extraordinary novel that seriously needs to be made into a movie which I assure would be best selling!!!
This book is extremely powerful and extremely well written. It is devastatingly heartbreaking and beautiful at the same time. The vivid descriptions left me feeling like I was on a journey around the world with Julia and Henry. Tatyana's writing style is informative, personal, friendly, vivid and raw and I was thoroughly entranced throughout the novel. It is chilling, heart breaking and thought provoking. I will continue to think about Julia and her life story for some time to come. It's one of those books that you want to consume as quickly and as slowly as possible all at once and then when you come to the end you want to read it all over again. I read this book using a mix of media and I read approximately 50% on my kindle and then listened to the other 50% on audio book. I must say the narrator Stephanie Cannon did an absolutely fantastic job of bringing this beautiful story to life. Stephanie was spot on with the accents and did a fantastic job representing both male and female voices. I had to be careful where I was listening to or reading this story as it was so powerful that it could make me shout at the injustice of it all or cry at any point!!
The storyline of this book is based on the true story of Tetyana's grandparents, although fictional Tetyana has done an absolutely excellent amount of research into her family which shines throughout the book. Nothing is left out she and brings Yulia and Hironimus Rudnyckyj story to life via Julia and Henry. It is absolutely rammed with emotions that are filled with heartbreak, pain, love, confusion and hope on a roller-coaster ride. This book was previously titled 'Motherland'.
It is a multi layered and evocative story of one woman and then a couple's and then a family's journey from WWll taking them through Germany, Italy, Australia and then New York from 1940 to 2011. It is quite hard to know what to say that won't give any spoilers away. I loved discovering "Julia" and "Henry's" stories and seeing them brought to life before my eyes. Julia and Henry are such amazingly strong people who I absolutely loved. I was completely invested in their stories and lives throughout and even after. I am looking forward to doing more of my own research on immigrant displacement and family stories of that time. I must admit that this was not something I have even thought to look into previously which I am quite ashamed to say as it happened and happens so much yet I know so little of it all.
A HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to Tatyana for writing this beautiful story which does your grandparents so much justice and for bringing them to life again. They say that history repeats itself and the fact that these people are from Ukraine which is a country that is yet again under attack and whose people are suffering makes the story more poignant. It is also most definitely an eye opener to what those who not just previously but also present and even future have gone or go through throughout their lives when many of us just take lives for granted.
Clear your schedules and grab your tissues as you will not be able to put this book down or stop the tears from streaming!!!
Again congratulations Tatyana on an absolutely stunning emotional rollercoaster ride of a book!!
Overall a heart wrenching, devastating yet beautiful story of love, loss and hope that will keep you sucked into the pages throughout.
Genres covered in this book include Historical European Fiction, Women's Historical Fiction, Historical Russian Fiction, Women's Literary Fiction, Historical Literary Fiction, Romance Literary Fiction, Historical Biographical Fiction and War Story amongst others.
I would recommend this book to the fans of the above as well as fans of 'The Four Winds' , 'The Last Green Valley' and 'The Nightingale'.
414 pages.
This book is just 99p to purchase on kindle or free on kindle unlimited (at time of review) via Amazon which I think is an absolute bargain for this book!!!
Rated 5 /5 (I LOVED it ) on Goodreads, Instagram, Amazon UK and Amazon US and on over 30 Facebook pages plus my blog on Facebook.
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@TetyanaDanford @Bookouture @Bookworm1986 @bookworm86
Author Bio
Tetyana Denford grew up in a small town in New York, and is a Ukrainian-American author, translator, and freelance writer. She grew up with her Ukrainian heritage at the forefront of her childhood, and it led to her being fascinated with how storytellers in various cultures passed down their lives to future generations; life stories are where we learn about ourselves, each other, and are the things that matter most, in a world where things move so quickly.
Her debut novel, Motherland was self-published in March 2020 to critical success and longlisted for The Readers Digest Self Published Book Awards. It was based on an incredible family secret that was revealed by her maternal grandmother, Julia, only recently, and has been described by people as 'haunting', 'powerful and devastating', and 'a fragile and hopeful story of an immigrant family'. In March 2022, Tetyana signed a 2-book deal with Bookcouture, an imprint of Hachette, and Motherland will be re-released in July 2022 with a new title and cover.
She also works with Frontline News as a translator, has been featured in The New York Times, The Telegraph, The Flock Magazine and Mother Tongue Magazine, and speaks several languages. She also hosts a YouTube show called 'The Craft and Business of Books' that helps writers understand both the creative side and the business side of the book world. Her series of 'conversation books', collections of poetry and prose about Grief, Motherhood, and Love, were published in 2021.
Tetyana currently lives in New York with her husband and three children.
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Bookouture Email Sign Up: https://www.bookouture.com/tetyana-denford
Buy Links:
Audible:UK: http://ow.ly/tOws50JUBulUS: http://ow.ly/rhCR50JUBuoListen here: http://ow.ly/Efc450JUBuk
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